BIRDBRAINS: A LYRICAL GUIDE TO WASHINGTON STATE BIRDS

BIRDBRAINS: A LYRICAL GUIDE TO WASHINGTON STATE BIRDS, ed. Susan Rich. Raven Chronicles Press, 2025.

I have two poems in this lovely book, lovingly curated by Susan Rich, assisted by bird note author Stephanie Delaney and artist Hiroko Seki. The poems are narrative and lyrical, longish and very short. The poets include Martha Silano, Jayne Marek, Kevin Craft, Joannie Stangeland, Sandra Yannone, Ted Kooser, Carolyn Forché, Mary Ellen Talley, Susan Landgraf—and so many others I’ve written about in these pages. You simply have to see for yourself.

Here is one of my poems:

Golden Diva

No bigger than a puff
of dandelion fluff, round bobbin
on a bare twig, breast
of muted light, gold-daubed head,
beak and feet tucked tight,
wings wrapped against wind.

Reflected in a puddle, up-
side down, crowned
by cumulous clouds, imbiber
of dew and seeds, tiny diva,
rouged beauty hopping branch
to water, and back.

—Bethany Reid, from Birdbrains (p. 241)

Tomorrow evening (Monday, April 27, 6 p.m.), I’ll be joining several other Birdbrains contributors to read at Everett Poetry Night (The Sisters Restaurant, Grand Avenue, Everett).

P.S. This morning I came across this post from Maria Popova at The Marginalian: “The Bird that Is Your Life.” Maybe you need to read it, too.